Yoga promotes healthy lifestyle

Yoga is for everyone, said Emily Harmon. She offers various types of yoga classes at Twisted Juniper, her studio at 619 Broadway.

Bev Darrbev.darr@courierpost.com

Yoga is for everyone, said Emily Harmon. She offers various types of yoga classes at Twisted Juniper, her studio at 619 Broadway.“If anyone has ever had an interest in yoga, I think those people should definitely come and give it a try,” she said.Harmon has been doing yoga for several years, after becoming enthused about it in college. “When I was younger my mother did a program on PBS and did kids’ yoga with me,” Harmon said. “But it wasn’t until 2000 when I was in college I really started practicing and getting into it. It helped with fitness and relieving the stress of college.”Each of her classes has room for about 15 students, and new members “can come in at any time they want,” Harmon said. “Or stop by the studio. I am usually there from around 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.” weekdays.Her current classes are:• Roots - Tuesday and Thursday 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. This is a beginners class for “establishing your practice, learning the poses and how to align the body. We go very slow in that class,” Harmon said. • Senior Stretch - Wednesday 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. This class “is perfect for seniors or anyone who is unable to get down on the ground or has not exercised for a long time,” Harmon said. “We stretch the entire body.”• Power Hour - Monday, Wednesday and Friday: Noon to 1 p.m. “I created that class for people who are working but might be able to get off for 45 minutes or an hour in the middle of the day. It is intense, so I wouldn’t recommend that one for beginners.”• Flow All - Monday through Friday: 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., and Tuesdays and Thursdays 5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.. “This class is open to anyone, from beginner to advanced,” Harmon said. “I offer modifications for everyone.”• A four-week Guided Meditation series started July 15. It may become a regular series. “We will be sitting in chairs or sitting on the floor,” she said. “It is an introduction to meditation. They can start at any time. It is not progressive, just has different techniques.”Yoga has been practiced for thousands of years by millions of people, Harmon said. In 2012, 20.4 million Americans practiced yoga, as reported by Yoga Journal in their latest “Yoga in America” study. Yoga promotes a healthy lifestyle and has many reported benefits such as; reduced stress levels, improved flexibility and range of motion in joints, increased strength and endurance, better concentration, better posture, increased lung capacity, lowers blood pressure and heart rate and weight loss.One can achieve many of these benefits by simply practicing the yoga postures, she said. “However, the big deal occurs when we allow ourselves to tune out all the excess chatter in our minds, to turn off all the things that create excess static in our lives and become present, even for just a few moments. Once we begin to feel the new sense of space that comes with tuning in, a sense of freedom and awareness begins to grow. By settling into that space, by taking the time each day to breath, we begin to discover the big deal in all its yogic glory.”For more details call Harmon at (573) 719-8545 or email her at emily@twistedjuniper.com.Some information in this article is from the website twistedjuniper.com.